Carbon dioxide usually gets a bad reputation when we talk about climate change. But now, Google is helping give CO2 a new, greener purpose. The tech giant has partnered with an Italian energy company called Energy Dome to use carbon dioxide in a clever way—to store clean energy from wind and solar power.
This partnership is part of Google’s push to use more reliable renewable energy in its data centers and other operations around the world. One big problem with solar and wind energy is that they don’t always produce power when we need it. For example, the sun doesn’t shine at night, and sometimes the wind doesn’t blow. That means the energy they make has to be stored for later use.
Right now, lithium-ion batteries are one of the most common ways to store that energy. But they only last for about four hours before needing a recharge. That works okay for short gaps in energy, but it’s not enough when the weather changes for longer periods. That’s where Energy Dome comes in with a new idea.
Instead of storing energy with traditional batteries, Energy Dome uses a huge, sealed dome filled with carbon dioxide gas. Here’s how it works.
When there’s extra energy from the sun or wind, the CO2 gas is compressed into a liquid and stored away. When more power is needed, the liquid is turned back into gas. This gas spins a turbine, which produces electricity. The CO2 gas then goes back into the dome, ready to be used again.
Google explains the process as something like steam escaping from a pressure cooker—a burst of energy that’s powerful and easy to control.
What’s exciting is that this system can deliver clean power for up to 24 hours, which is a big step up from what lithium-ion batteries can do. In fact, Energy Dome already has a working plant in Italy that can provide 20 megawatts of energy and store 200 megawatt-hours—a solid real-world example of the tech in action.
Although Google hasn’t shared exact plans for where or when it will use this new tech, the company did say it’s also investing in Energy Dome. Details of the investment haven’t been revealed yet, but it shows that Google is serious about making long-lasting, clean energy storage a reality.
This partnership could be an important step toward solving one of the biggest challenges in renewable energy, how to keep the lights on when the sun and wind take a break.
Source: Energy Dome
